My first week in Edinburgh was spent exploring the city and beyond with my dad and sister. We rented a flat near George Square and from there we branched out and made many stops around the city. We got a real taste of Edinburgh cuisine, trying everything from real Scottish restaurants, Italian places, Mexican dishes, and even American comfort food… except I’m still too nervous to try haggis. We visited the Old College and George Square, scouting out where I would need to go for classes. We explored the National Museum of Scotland and were surprised to see numerous American accomplishments on display along with the Scottish ones. We went up on the rooftop of the museum, which provided a great view of the whole city. We went to the iconic Victoria Street and Royal Mile and walked all the way to the castle to explore inside.
Later in the week, my dad made the brave choice to rent a car so that we could venture outside of Edinburgh and make some stops in Stirling and Falkirk. Since we had checked out Edinburgh Castle before, we needed to see Stirling Castle to determine which is better in that rivalry. However, I still can’t decide between the two because I thought Edinburgh was more interesting to explore inside while Stirling had better views of the scenery outside.
In Stirling we also went to The National Wallace Monument, where we climbed 246 steps to the top to get a stunning view of the town. On the drive back to Edinburgh we stopped in Falkirk to see The Kelpies, the iconic sculpture by Andy Scott that looked incredible with its changing colors against the dark night sky.
Each day, after getting our 20,000 steps in, we returned to our flat to relax, binging Taskmaster, a comedic game show that sadly isn’t available on Netflix back home in the United States. At the end of the week, they helped me finally move into my accommodation, and then we said our goodbyes and they headed back home to New Hampshire. I’m very grateful that I had them with me to help me get accustomed to the city because I know it would’ve been harder on my own.
– Alyvia
Study Abroad Blog 
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